Monica Smith celebrated her 100th birthday last year with a card from the Queen, a slap-up tea, and – most important of all – surrounded by her loving family.
Because Monica lived for her daughters Ann and Fiona, and her grandchildren Ben, Sarah and Megan. They called her GG” and right up until the last few years of her life she was able to keep up with them.
She celebrated her 85th birthday in Turkey with a ride on an inflatable donut; at 90 she was swimming in the sea off the coast of Portugal; and at the age of 92 she climbed to the top of Latrigg, determined to have a bacon butty from the pop-up café at the summit.
But Monica’s was always an active life. As well as walking, she loved horse riding, dancing and ice-skating. In 1950 she and three friends went skiing in the French Alps.
Latterly she was an enthusiastic member of the over-50s swimming exercise group at Keswick Pool.
As Ann recalls: “Mum always felt actions spoke louder than words, and no doubt coined the phrase “just do it” long before Nike!”
She was born Mary Monica Rawcliffe in Carnforth in 1921, daughter of Benjamin and Kitty, and the middle of three children. She attended Lancaster Grammar School, and in 1938, at 17, she passed the entrance exam for the Civil Service in London.
Following the outbreak of war, she retrained as a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary. But in 1942 her beloved brother Bill, aged only 22, was killed in the war. Her younger sister Barbara, who had been born with Down’s Syndrome, had died aged 12.
In the early 1950s Monica took a job as a nursing sister at Ulverston District Hospital to be closer to her parents, and that was where she met her husband Ian, who was a doctor. Their first date – naturally enough – was ice-skating on a frozen pond.
They married in 1954 and moved to Keswick, where Ian started his own GP practice and Monica worked as nurse and receptionist. It was here that her love of the Lakes was first nurtured.
Ian died in 1973, aged 61, and Monica took up a job as a teaching assistant at Crosthwaite Infants school in order to bring up her two daughters.
“She was always there for us with love and support but also encouraged us to be independent and go off to do whatever we wanted,” Ann recalls. “She loved most outdoor activities, especially anything free!”
Monica did a lot of charity work throughout her life. Among other things she was treasurer of the Children’s Society, collected for the RNLI, and worked in the Oxfam shop.
The church, and Crosthwaite in particular, were a big part of her life.
“Mum made the best of her 100 years and lived life to the full,” Ann says. “She was strong, loving and independent, yet full of fun and laughter, and will be greatly missed.”
Monica died on March 20, and a funeral service was held at Crosthwaite Church.
